| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
Coke offers taste of Games
Coca-Cola plaza lets ordinary folks compete
By Jeff Oliver
Deseret News staff writer
At Saturday's opening of "Coca-Cola On The Ice" in the Salt Lake Olympic Square, Auston Wood, 5, discovered that he has already completed the first step to becoming an Olympic curler: He weighs more then the curling stone.
Using all of his 48-pound frame Wood managed to shove the 42-pound stone to within a few feet of the target, earning himself a silver pin.
His sister Alexis Woodward, 3, may have given him some competition but at the last second she forgot to let go of the stone's handle.
Aside from the 50-foot curling ice sheet, Coca-Cola's 20,000 square foot attraction features an 80-foot bobsled push track, a 110-foot luge course which includes a 90-degree turn and a 40 feet-by-12 feet hockey rink with a regulation size net.
Several former Olympians attended Saturday's opening, including Devon Harris, a member of Jamaica's 1988 Bobsled Team, Jim Craig a member of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team and Wendell Suckow, a three-time Olympian in the luge.
However, the event was less about Olympians than about ordinary people doing their best to emulate the Olympians.
"I just did what they told me to. I put my shoulders back, leaned into the turn and straightened out as fast as I could," said Scott Peatross from Sandy.
Peatross, representing the Russian Federation, completed the course in 7.79 seconds, edging out his wife Miriam by two-tenths of a second.
"My mom's mom is from Norway," said Ashley Peatross, 7, explaining why Miriam Peatross chose to represent the country on her luge run.
Across the tent, Mark Westcott and Allen O'Connor, from Boise, Idaho, were taking advantage of the long line at the bobsled push track by watching and learning from the other competitors.
The goal was to push the regulation-size sled the length of the track in the shortest amount of time.
"We've been watching carefully," Westcott said.
The two planned on representing Ireland, O'Connor's homeland, but settled on Poland when they discovered there were no Ireland flags available. After doffing their jackets, the two-man team assumed their stations on the track and pushed the sled to a gold-pin finish with a time of 2.91 seconds.
They shared the prize with Japan's team.
Coca-Cola On The Ice is located on the north side of the Delta Center and will be open for the duration of the Games.
E-MAIL: joliver@desnews.com
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February 11, 2002
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